Category Archives: National Security


Romney: Check with lawyers and notes

Mitt Romney made what may prove to be a major league gaffe today. In response to a reporter’s question, perhaps triggered by an aggressive web ad, Romney said:

Mr. Romney: I don’t recall all the things that I said at that time, so I’d just have to go back and look at my notes at that […]

Thompson on Security and Unity

Fred Thompson’s campaign’s motto is "Prosperity, Security, Unity". He addressed the first of these during his main speech to the Americans for Prosperity. He addressed the other parts during a speech to the Virginia delegation.
Nothing special, but interesting to see the rest of his message.
I was struck, again, by how much the crowd wants to […]

Senator Thune introduces McCain at AFP

Senator Thune introduced John McCain at the Americans for Prosperity reception last night.
I thought it was a very good introduction. It highlighted McCain’s record as a anti-spending guy. Thune calls him the "lobbyist for the taxpayer" in contrast to the "lobbyist for the spending groups."
He also makes the point that McCain is taken seriously by […]

Huckabee on Ron Paul

One of the more interesting parts of the debate was the exchange between Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. After the debate, Governor Huckabee offered some reflections on that exchange.

Tags: Debate, Huckabee, National Security, Paul

Interview with ONE campaign volunteer

When I was at the New Hampshire GOP debate, I ran into a Republican who is a die-hard volunteer for the ONE campaign. Michael is a former Marine and told me a great story about sharing the ONE campaign’s vision with other Marines at a Rudy Giuliani event a couple of days prior. He focuses […]

Total-ing Romney’s investments in terror

Mitt Romney released his financial records on Monday. These are neat. You don’t get too many opportunities to see where people with $250m put their money. (BTW, I think that he probably has more. How much is in his foundation?)
I didn’t expect to write on this because I find the whole issue of blind trusts […]

Huckabee’s foreign policy. Neo-isolationist?

Now that Mike Huckabee is in the first-tier, he is going to need a foreign policy, which he hasn’t articulated much of, as of yet.
My friend David Adesnik dug up some on Huckabee’s foreign policy, as articulated in the Presidential debate two weeks ago:
HUCKABEE: Well, the problem is, George, sometimes when you get what you […]

Lefty blogosphere prepares to eat its own

Matt Stoller is laying the groundwork to attack Democrats over FISA:
I’ve been kicking around the idea with Chris that we should raise the costs of bad decision-making on things like FISA, or when they fold to Republicans on the supplemental or (insert fight here).
It’s not much to put up some google ads criticizing these […]

Stoller’s conservative majority theory: A lesson for 2008

Open Left’s Matt Stoller  argues here and here that there is an operative "conservative majority" in Congress right now. His basic thesis is summarized here:
In particular, this comment by Paul Rosenberg is I think accurate, as he argues that we are facing a conservative but not right-wing Blue Dog/DLC bloc combined with an anti-progressive […]

Torture in the GOP debate

Now, I think this whole issue is taken as a proxy for the question, "how much will be protect us?" And law and order is a big principle in the GOP.  But wasn’t this weird?
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he would support "enhanced interrogation techniques … but not torture."

Isn’t that just equivocating? "I’m against […]